The Shed Is Funding 52 Emerging New York Artists to Make New Work—Here They Are

The Shed under construction as seen from the High Line, February 2018. Photo by Ed Lederman.

The Shed, the massive new arts center on Manhattan’s Far West Side, is finally shedding some light on its programming. A total of 52 emerging artists in New York City have been commissioned to create new work as part of the inaugural “Open Call” program that will debut in 2019 and continue through 2020.

“‘Open Call’ is a way to offer support and valuable resources to artists in New York City who are at pivotal stages of their careers,” Alex Poots, The Shed’s artistic director and CEO, said in a statement. The program, he said, was developed specifically for artists who have not yet had opportunities to create new work with full support from a large cultural institution. Each artist will receive a stipend of between $7,000 and $15,000, depending on the scope of the proposed project, as well as support and resources needed to develop their work.

“From the very beginning, the idea was to have many voices,” Tamara McCaw, The Shed’s chief civic program officer, told artnet News. “We also wanted to make sure to support artists through all stages of their careers. It’s not about age.”

To that end, McCaw said, the request for proposals encouraged projects that push the boundaries into multidisciplinary and collaborative realms across six creative disciplines: design, visual arts, music, performing arts, literary arts, and cinema. As a result, The Shed received more than 900 applications for “Open Call” over a three-month period.

The artist proposals were vetted by a committee of curatorial and production staff and the final selections were made by a convened panel of roughly 30 New York-based artists, producers, and academics known for their expertise and contributions to art and culture. “They were incredibly generous with their time,” McCaw said.

Rendering of The McCourt with standing room, courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group.

The works will be presented in three spaces: The Shed’s black-box theater, the 12,500-square-foot, column-free gallery, and the 17,000-square-foot, open-air plaza in front of the building, (The plaza is created when its mobile steel outer shell—which can be rolled in or out to create a flexible indoor/outdoor space—is nested.)

Here is the complete list of artists and collectives chosen for “Open Call”: